This super lot in Darlinghurst used to be home to a Catholic School. Photo: Supplied

Large development site in Darlinghurst hits the market

Jack Needham|Apr 17, 2019

What happens when you can’t sell a development site in Sydney?

One option is to combine it with the apartment block you majority-own next door and put it back on the market 18 months later.

The site has four street frontages. Photo: Supplied

That’s what the owners at 40-50 and 52 Francis Street, Darlinghurst, have done, combining their majority share of the apartment block next door to a site once owned by the Catholic Church in the hope of achieving a successful sale this time round.

“The owners have amalgamated the site due to its uniqueness as it creates an island site, and are hoping to cash in on the (current) market,” listing agent Dominic D’Ettorre said.

The land size of the entire site, which has four street frontages, is 1287.8 square metres.

Heritage restrictions on the above ground section of the site are restricted to the facade of a circa 1922 church hall and some community murals (pictured). Photo: Supplied A large part of the site is believed to have been owned by the Catholic Church from the 1850s until recently. Photo: Supplied

The last time 40-50 Francis Street was on the market was 18 months ago with Mr D’Ettorre. It sold for $7,847,000 in 2013 through another agent CBRE.

The buildings have been vacant since.

A development application to change the use of all existing buildings on the larger site from community use to office and retail, was approved by the City of Sydney in 2015. It lists the site’s owner as the Azzuri Group.

Mr D’Ettorre described the listing as one of the most exciting he had handled in the past decade.

“[Number] 40-50 was owned by the Catholic Church, and most recently part of it was used for emergency housing. In its day it was a Catholic School back at the turn of the century up until the ’60s and 70s,” he said.

The four buildings located at 40-50 Francis Street date from 1922 to 1994, and the church is believed to have owned the site from 1854.

Inside one of 52 Francis Street’s penthouse apartments. Photo: Supplied

Mr D’Ettorre said 52 Francis Street was a six-level, circa-1920s warehouse apartment conversion, which could be redeveloped, as the building was not subject to any heritage constraints.

The strata-titled building consists of 15 apartments, and 14 of the apartments, or 80 per cent of the ownership, is up for sale.

If the apartment block gets bought for redevelopment it could prove to be one of the first times a new strata law will have been used that allows for a building to be redeveloped if there is an agreement of 75 per cent of owners in the strata scheme.

The facade of a historical bible hall built about 1922 on the 40-50 Francis Street site, and several murals around the property are subject to heritage protection, and the storm water drain underneath the site also has heritage significance. But Mr D’Ettorre did not see these affecting the interest in the b4-zoned site, which is within 200 metres of Hyde Park.

“We’ve had a very good response thus far from a mixed bag, obviously residential developers, schools, childcare centres,” Mr D’Ettorre said.

Those interested in 40-50 Francis Street, which has four Torrens-title lots, can opt to buy just that site, or purchase it together with the neighbouring 52 Francis Street.